The Bachelor's Bride by Audra Adams

 

I buddy-read this book with my friend Caro. She recently hit me up and informed me that Audra Adams was a penname of Margot Abbott, who wrote one of my favorite works of historical fiction of all time, THE LAST INNOCENT HOUR. Obviously when I found out that one of my faves wrote Harlequin novels, I was all over that like white on rice, even though secret baby is my least favorite romance trope ever.

THE BACHELOR'S BRIDE is so ridiculous, though. It starts out with a sex scene that the heroine, Rachel, thinks is a dream because she did what you're not supposed to do and mixed antibiotics and alcohol. She realizes that her hook-up wasn't a dream when she winds up pregnant, and when she describes her lover and his French-sounding accent to her friend, it turns out that her mystery lover is her French-Canadian boss, Reid James.

Most of the book is Rachel saying that she's not like other girls, she's not cheap, she's not for sale. She throws a tantrum when Reid wants her to sign a pre-nup before they get married-- a marriage that she's made it clear that she doesn't want and might break up after a year. Reid gives into her, the way he gives into her on everything else. Usually in older romances like these, I'm solidly on the heroine's side, but Rachel was so wishy-washy and awful. I felt sorry for her because of her sick mother and her mean father, but she was also no prize herself. Reid had serious boundary issues, but as far as alpha Harlequin heroes go, he was one of the better ones, and a total Consent King. I stan.

There is a pretty steamy sex scene in this book and as I said, Reid is way less jerky than some of the other heroes in books of this type. The dated references were also amusing. We love to see someone navigating with a road map and women wearing denim skirts. Apart from that, though, I wasn't all that impressed with this book. THE LAST INNOCENT HOUR was so much better.

2 to 2.5 out of 5 stars